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Ran KC4AAC for a while and then KC4AAA (look those up). Used the military Collins KWM-2A setups... magic.

Run a Furuno marine HF radio opened up for ham bands when I am on my boat in the Caribbean. PACTOR Modem and SailMail is my email link to civilization when I'm there. Plus we have several good cruising nets running every morning with weather and security and social news for boaters.

34 years a ham and an Extra Class for quite a while now....got a couple Yaesu's that are HF only FT-950 and FT-2000D and A couple rigs that do it all...TS-2000 and Icom IC-7000...amps...antenna tuners...160 meters to 70 CM...SSB / CW / Digital too!

Since this thread was started, I upgraded to General class, and I'm now studying for Amateur Extra. I mostly operate on digital modes -- PSK31 and Olivia -- on 20M, with a little 40M thrown in. I'm also setup for portable HF operation with my Icom 7200, a battery, and an end-fed antenna supported on a 31' telescoping fiberglass pole.

The digital modes are great for those of us without the ability to put up large antenna farms, since they use the processing power of a PC to pick out and decode signals. E.g., I have been doing PSK31 with only 30 watts to get QSOs into Eastern Europe and South America from my QTH near Philadelphia, PA. (Obviously, CW would work well for this but I have no ear for code.)

Hello all, I live up in Alaska and was hoping to get started in HAM Radio this winter as a hobby. Do you guys have any recommendations for a decent inexpensive radio to start out with after I pass my test?

Hello all, I live up in Alaska and was hoping to get started in HAM Radio this winter as a hobby. Do you guys have any recommendations for a decent inexpensive radio to start out with after I pass my test?

Which bands are you planning to operate on? To talk the world without the use of an internet portal, you will need HF and at least a General license.

Just like shooting, amateur radio has many different ways to get involved, voice, morse code, digital modes, slow scan and fast scan television, APRS, and more.

Winter in Alaska would be a good time to study for the amateur radio tests.

__________________
ChuckReal trucks don't have Otto cycles.
My mustang is green fueled, four on the floor and all terrain.

Now that Morse Code is no longer required, I highly recommend studying for and taking both the Tech and General tests in the same sitting. The test for General has a lot of overlap with that for Tech, going into many of the same topics just in more depth. A General class license gets you a lot more operating privileges on HF, which was what you need for continental/intercontinental communications. Personally, I got bored with Tech privileges fairly quickly.

When it comes to choosing a radio, the typical ham progression is HT (handy talkie, AKA a handheld) to mobile VHF/UHF rig, and then to an HF rig. Radios from any of the Big Three (Icom, Kenwood, and Yaesu) are generally a safe bet. In the past few years the Chinese have entered the HT market in a big way with the radios from Baofeng and Wouxon. I recently picked up a Baofeng UV5RA from Amazon and for the price I'm impressed.

CHIRP is a nice piece of software that allows you to program many VHF/UHF rigs, and it's free. I'm using it with my Baofeng and my Yaesu FT-7800R. (Programming VHF/UHF radios by hand is really tedious.)

I have everything in my F-150. A fully mobile station.
Yaesu FT-857 to a triband mag mount on the roof for 6m/2m/70cm. Hamstick and tuner on the HF side for 10/20m or can go stationary portable with a Buddipole to run 40 through 10. I also have a J-38 straight key in the truck.

Yaesu VX-7R to a tri band lip mount on the hood for 2m packet/Winlink 2k using a Kantronics KPC-3+ and an older Dell with XP Pro. That also serves as my 1.25m voice and my back up 2m/70cm voice.

Everything, including the TNC and lap top, is powered from the truck's batter through a Rig Runner, plus I have a backup SLA battery.

The 857 comes out of the truck and goes in my pack, along with the buddipole antenna and a small (7ah) SLA battery for hunting trips, camping, etc.

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